The Formula One Promoters' Association sought "a more collaborative approach to the development of the championship" after querying the loss of free-to-air coverage, declaring a "lack of clarity" on new initiatives and the threat new races pose to existing grands prix.

In his first public response to the criticism, Carey told ESPN that "all three" concerns were addressed in F1's meeting with the promoters the following day but "realistically no one brought any of them up – they just put it out in a press release, which was a little strange".

He said: "I thought that was the strangest because they put it out the night before [the meeting].

"So we already had a day set up to talk about initiatives and they – well, only a couple of guys – put out a press release saying we need to talk about initiatives.